Generally, the diagnostic techniques of traditional Oriental medicine mainly include four diagnostic methods, namely, auscultation, olfaction, inspection, and palpation. Pulse diagnosis, which is one of the diagnosis methods of traditional oriental medicine, falls under palpation. The tactile sensation of pulse, obtained through the tips of the fingers, is described in terms of pulse conditions  and the pulse conditions, determined through the various tactile sensations through the tips of the fingers, are used for diagnosis. A human's finger includes hundreds of thousands of sensory cells, and the sensation of each finger varies with the individual according to the extent of development. Consequently, pulse conditions that have been used since the age when there were no measuring instruments have been handed down orally and have been instructed through experience, and thus have obscure termination criteria and are difficult to standardize (refer to FIG. 1).
In traditional oriental medicine, various types of pulse diagnoses have been used to detect pulse conditions. In the currently used “Three sector pulse-taking method ” pulsation is measured in the state in which an examiner's three fingers, that is, his or her middle finger and the two fingers flanking the middle finger, are placed on the Cun, Gu, and Chi pulse-taking locations on the inside of the left wrist.
FIG. 2 shows the anatomical arterial circulatory system and pulse-taking locations in traditional oriental medicine. From FIG. 3, it can be seen that the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking locations are present on the radius artery of the left wrist.
At the time of pulse taking, an examiner places his or her middle finger on the Gu pulse-taking location, that is, the location of the radius artery on the eminent head of the radius, places his or her index finger and third finger on the Cun pulse-taking location spaced apart from the Gu pulse-taking location toward the palm by 10˜13 mm, and the Chi pulse-taking location spaced apart from the Gu pulse-taking location toward his or her elbow by 10˜13 mm, and then measures pulsation sensed by the three fingers. In this state, the examiner diagnoses the condition of pulsation while pressing the three fingers. In the first step, the examiner searches for the pressing range within which pulsation is sensed while increasing and decreasing pressing force. At the subsequent step, the examiner searches for the maximum pulse pressure while gradually increasing the pressing force. The pulse pressure at which the maximum force of a pulse is sensed is referred to as the ‘maximum pulse pressure’. In brief, when an examiner diagnoses the state of a disease using a pulse diagnotic method, the examiner places three fingers at the three Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking locations, senses a pulse condition at the maximum pulse pressure within the pressing range within which pulsation is sensed while varying the pressing force, and makes a diagnosis.
However, when a human directly performs pulse diagnosis, an examinee's pulse condition is determined depending entirely on the examiner's subjective senses and experiences, so that diagnosis results may vary with the examiner and the reliability of diagnosis may be reduced.
Research into a pulse wave measurement device that is capable of eliminating traditional oriental doctors' subjectivity, collecting objective results of pulse diagnosis using sensors capable of detecting signals more accurately than humans' senses, and allowing examinees' pulsation to be viewed objectively has been carried out.
A representative example of conventional pulse taking devices is shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b. More particularly, a pulse taking device using a fixed support (Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-1994-0010974), a pulse taking device using a cuff (Korean Patent No. 10-1997-0005238), a pulse taking device using a piezoelectric sensor (Korean Patent No. 0344211), and a pulse taking device using an array sensor (Korean Utility Model Registration No. 0261625), shown in FIGS. 5a and 5b, have been disclosed.
Furthermore, Korean Patent No. 0672083 discloses a pulse wave analyzing method using an array pressure sensor, and the analyzing method enables an examinee's pulse wave information to be represented as variable conditions for variations in pressing force or the passage of time in a three-dimensional graph space.
Accordingly, it is estimated that the technical basis for detecting pulse condition information with relative accuracy at an examinee's pulse taking position and 3-dimensionally displaying results of the detection via an output device by combining the previously developed pulse taking device with the 3-dimensional pulse condition information analytic method has been established.
Meanwhile, most previously developed pulse diagnotic pulse taking devices provide bio-impedance measurement results, obtained simply through piezoelectric sensors or the like, in the form of an output screen without bibliographical or clinical considerations with regard to pulse conditions used differently for respective purposes, respective preferences, respective symptoms and respective diseases, and thus it is impossible in practice to analyze an examinee's pulse diagnotic information, measured at a pulse-taking location, within the pulse diagnotic systems, therefore the pulse diagnotic information is of significance only as a reference that is used before an actual traditional oriental doctor's clinical diagnosis.
More particularly, the conventional pulse taking devices have been developed with an emphasis on the improvement of the performance of a pulse-taking sensor and a pressing unit, there is a limitation in that it is impossible to make an automatic diagnosis on an examinee's pulse condition within a pulse diagnotic system using such a pulse taking device or pulse taking device, even though the pulse diagnotic system is combined with a 3-dimensional analysis technique for pulse condition information.
Furthermore, in order to acquire an examinee's accurate pulse diagnotic information, the determination of three locations, namely, the Cun, Gu and Chi locations, which are pulse-taking locations, and the operational control of the pulse-taking sensor must be considered as important factors in the design of a pulse taking device.
The process by which a traditional oriental doctor takes a pulse is described below in detail. First, an examinee's Gu pulse-taking location is determined, and then the Cun and Chi pulse-taking locations are determined based on the Gu pulse-taking location. Many traditional oriental doctors have expressed various opinions on the lengths of the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking portions. Specifically, Nan Jing  defined the distance of the Gu portion as 1 Fen  and determined the total length of the three Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking portions to be 1 Cun and 9 Fens, while Wang Shuhe , Yang Xuancao  and Wang Bing  defined the length of the Gu pulse-taking portion as 10 Fens and determined the total length of the three Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking portions to be 3 Cuns (refer to FIG. 5). Furthermore, Huangfu Mi  divided the total length of the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking portions, that is, 1 Cun and 8 Fens, in a ratio of 6:6:6, and, according to the commentary of Yang Xuancao  Huatuo  divided a total of 1 Cun and 9 Fens in a ratio of 8:3:8. Gao Yangsheng  divided a total of 3 Cuns in a ratio of 10:10:10 in Wang Shuhe's Secret Instructions on the Pulse  and Sun SsuMiao  divided 1 Cun and 9 Fens in a ratio of 7:6:6. Based on Wang Shuhe's Secret Instructions on the Pulse  Yang Xuancao  and Wang Bing  divided a total of 3 Cuns in a ratio of 10:10:10 and thus defined the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking portions. Although the traditional oriental medical doctors' opinions on the lengths of the three portions varied with the times, most traditional oriental medical doctors have considered each of the lengths of the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking portions to be one Cun since the assertion of Yang Xuancao  and Wang Bing 
Since 1 Cun is actually about 20 mm according to a well-known measurement conversion factor, the total length of the three Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking portions is 60 mm upon measurement conversion. However, when a pulse-taking posture is naturally assumed, the distance between the pad of the index finger and the pad of the ring finger is about 26 mm according to measured data, so that the distance forms a range within which a pulse cannot be taken using a traditional three-finger pulse diagnotic method. Accordingly, in actual clinical situations, the assertion in which each of the lengths of the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking portions is 1 Cun is disregarded, and traditional oriental doctors arbitrarily take pulses using the three-finger pulse diagnotic method.
In modern traditional oriental medicine, there are different opinions on the relative locations and distances between the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking locations. The key to the determination of three pulse-taking locations, that is, the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking locations, is to determine the distances from the central Gu pulse-taking location to the Cun and Chi pulse-taking locations so as to determine the Cun and Chi pulse-taking locations based on the central Gu pulse-taking location.
Although the definitions of the relative locations and distances between the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking locations are very important factors in the extraction of an examinee's pulse condition information, as described above, the conventional pulse taking devices are designed such that, when the Gu pulse-taking location, which is a reference location for pulse taking, is determined via an examiner's palpation or using an instrument based on the detection of the eminent head of the radius, pulse condition information at the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking locations is measured using a plurality of pulse-taking sensors arranged at predetermined intervals, or pulse condition information at the Gu pulse-taking location is first measured based on a predetermined distance value, movement to the Cun and/or Chi pulse-taking location is made, and then pulse condition information is collected.
However, the pulse taking device, designed as described above, has a problem in that the measurement process must be repeated because there is a strong possibility that pulse diagnotic information will be collected at pulse-taking locations that do not coincide with the concept of the Cun, Gu and Chi pulse-taking locations described in the original text, and thus it will not be possible to acquire accurate and reliable results in the actual process of measuring pulse condition information.
Moreover, pulse diagnotic analytic algorithms for pulse condition analysis, which are provided in either conventional pulse diagnotic devices or pulse taking devices, do not provide highly reliable pulse diagnotic analysis results because they have not been subjected to a process of designing output variables based on the physical consideration of the definitions of pulse conditions in light of traditional oriental medicine and a process of performing quantification based on clinical data.
More particularly, FIG. 6a shows a representative example of a conventional “pulse diagnotic analytic system”, and FIG. 6b shows a flowchart showing “the flow of floating pulse and collapsing pulse analysis” in the pulse diagnotic analytic system. As seen from FIGS. 6a and 6b, the conventional pulse diagnotic systems do not provide sufficient analysis criteria for examinees' pulse condition information (for example, measured pulse pressures) collected by pulse diagnotic devices, that is, a clear basis for pulse condition diagnosis through the application of quantified output variables and determination logic based on the variables.
That is, since it is difficult to carry out systematic research through cooperation between experts in related fields, such as traditional oriental medicine experts and mechanical engineers, due to the special circumstances of the development of pulse diagnotic devices and pulse taking devices, it is true that there exists an inherent limitation, in which consideration in the light of traditional oriental medicine and the design and quantification of output variables based on clinical data, which are requirements essential for the design and improvement of the performance of pulse diagnotic devices and pulse diagnotic systems, are neglected.
The conventional pulse diagnotic devices and pulse diagnotic systems based on the diagnotic algorithms, which are not based on based on the physical consideration of the definitions of pulse conditions in light of traditional oriental medicine and clinical data, as described above, have limitations in that the utility thereof is very low from the actual clinical point of view and the reliability thereof is very low from the point of view of the objectivity and reproducibility of pulse taking results diagnosis.
In order for the conventional pulse diagnotic systems, including conventional pulse diagnotic devices, to be developed into automatic pulse diagnotic systems, rather than mere devices for simply outputting the results of bio-impedance measurement, various attempts to quantify output variables, such as the design of output variables based on the physical consideration of pulse conditions defined in traditional oriental medicine classics, the improvement of the conventional pulse diagnotic systems based on the designed output variables, the collection of clinical data produced by the improved pulse diagnotic systems, and the statistical analysis of the collected clinical data, are required.
As a result, a series of processes of designing output variables in conformity with the characteristics of respective principal pulse conditions, defined in old books regarding traditional oriental medicine, quantifying the output variables, correcting and supplementing the output variables based on clinical data, and determining the output variables is essentially required for the improvement of the pulse diagnotic systems.